An Office Worker Is Good At Exorcism - Chapter 136

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 135
Part 6. Lee Deputy Manager, You Must Do Well (4)
“Really, sir?”
Kim Young-chan, who hadn’t expected Kang Hyung-seok to go this far, spoke with a voice trembling with emotion, and Kang Hyung-seok took a sip of the steaming coffee before opening his mouth.
“However, there is a condition.”
“Yes! Please tell me!”
It was right after Kim Young-chan, willing to do anything as long as his son could be protected, eagerly leaned forward.
Kang Hyung-seok cast his gaze through the window toward the Factory.
The atmosphere seeming favorable, Lee Jin-pyung was conversing with the staff member he’d seen earlier in the smoking area in front of the Factory.
“As you know, I have a companion. If I move alone, it will look suspicious.”
“Ah….”
It was when Kim Young-chan pressed his lips firmly together, wondering what he should do in that case.
“Why don’t you have dinner with your son?”
“Dinner… with him?”
“Yes. We can say the conversation went well, and if we have dinner with the Factory Owner, it should work out fine.”
Kim Young-chan clapped his hands as if to say, “There was such a way!”
The dark expression from just moments before had vanished without a trace.
“Understood! I’ll contact my son right away and arrange a table immediately.”
Once the meal is finished, it will be quitting time anyway.
I could naturally send Lee Jin-pyung off first, and it seemed Kim Young-chan would somehow manage to deliver the kind of results that Gwak Young-ho would appreciate.
Honestly, just having dinner together with Kim Young-chan—whom I’d heard was difficult—could be seen as a positive signal in itself.
“I’ll leave the arrangements to you.”
Kim Young-chan stood up as I finished the remaining coffee.
Then he hurriedly left the Container Housing.
***
“This place really does excellent work.”
Kim Young-chan had led them to a charcoal grill restaurant quite distant from the factory.
It was also not far from the apartment complex where he resided, and though not spacious, its quiet atmosphere made it an ideal place for conversation.
“So, you said Lee Deputy Manager?”
“Yes.”
Kim Young-chan offered a cordial smile as he poured water into Lee Jin-pyung’s glass.
Lee Jin-pyung hastily reached for the water bottle, but Kim Young-chan gruffly refused.
“Don’t worry about it. I apologize for having you speak with the staff since I haven’t been keeping up with the details lately. You’re not upset, are you?”
“No, it’s fine.”
It was truly a rare sight.
The usually taciturn Lee Jin-pyung struggling with something.
“Phew! Since I was quite rude last time, I’m treating you—eat plenty.”
“Ah, well, um.”
Lee Jin-pyung bowed his head deeply, then continued in a small but distinct voice.
“Thank you.”
Then he glanced at Kang Hyung-seok sitting beside him, his eyes betraying his true feelings.
Admiration bordering on reverence.
The dramatic shift in Kim Young-chan’s demeanor from just a few conversations was nothing short of magic from Lee Jin-pyung’s perspective.
Ding.
The door opened and a young man entered at that moment.
“Young-jun!”
Kim Young-chan immediately waved at him, and the man removed his shoes before dragging a suitcase over.
“Say hello. These are our factory’s business partners.”
“Oh, really?”
Blood runs true.
A man with the exact same irritable expression as yesterday’s Kim Young-chan nodded in greeting before taking an empty seat.
“Man, Father wants to meet his son after so long in a place like this.”
“Watch your tongue, you fool. We have guests.”
“Ugh, yeah, yeah.”
Watching him wipe his hands roughly with a wet tissue, Kang Hyung-seok silently pulled the corners of his mouth upward.
‘So this is his son.’
Mid-twenties in age?
His accent was rather distinctive—it seemed he’d spent considerable time in Australia.
“I’ve heard much about you. I’m Kang Hyung-seok, Manager at Daejeong Materials.”
“Ah, yes. Yeah.”
Kim Young-chan fidgeted at Kim Young-jun’s unfriendly demeanor, but that hardly mattered.
‘The Shaman’s Bell is quiet, and I sense nothing visible.’
Was something truly stalking them?
There was nothing particularly noticeable around Kim Young-jun.
“The charcoal has arrived.”
The Factory Owner filled the center of the table with charcoal and set the grill plate on top.
“It’s nice to be back in Korea, isn’t it? Eating things like this.”
“Come on, Australia is better. Father, you should travel overseas more yourself. Don’t just send me.”
“What am I supposed to do at my age?”
Kang Hyung-seok smiled faintly as he watched the father and son bicker with each other.
Clink.
A plate of meat was placed on the table, and Kang Hyung-seok picked up the tongs and began grilling the meat.
The atmosphere during the meal was unremarkable.
Kim Young-jun’s expression was somewhat sullen, and both Kang Hyung-seok and Kim Young-chan had purposes beyond simply eating.
“I need a cigarette for a moment.”
It was when Kim Young-chan, who had been eating for a while, stood up from his seat.
“Let’s step outside together.”
Kang Hyung-seok rose from his chair, signaled Lee Jin-pyung to remain seated, and followed Kim Young-chan out.
Creak.
The narrow gap between the Restaurant and the adjacent Building.
Kim Young-chan lit his cigarette in that cramped space and met Kang Hyung-seok’s gaze with a heavy expression.
“What did you sense when you looked at him?”
Kang Hyung-seok shook his head, his lips pressed firmly together.
“I didn’t see anything in particular.”
“Sigh—”
Whether it was a sigh of relief or one of frustration, it was impossible to tell.
Kim Young-chan exhaled a breath that defied categorization, shifted the cigarette to his mouth, and Kang Hyung-seok spoke.
“So I must ask—do you know what’s pursuing your Son?”
“…What?”
It was right after Kim Young-chan, his voice strained by the smoke filling his lungs, repeated the question.
“I saw nothing with my eyes. I felt nothing even outside the Restaurant. Do you truly not know what’s threatening your Son?”
A vengeful spirit or a Victim Spirit.
That was what Kang Hyung-seok had considered.
But there were no signs of such things.
“Are you now suspecting me…?”
“No, I simply want to understand clearly.”
Kang Hyung-seok thought carefully and continued cautiously.
“I have a bad premonition. I’m concerned that if it’s what I think, things could become very difficult.”
“…What do you mean?”
Kim Young-chan’s face went slack, and he asked in a trembling voice. Kang Hyung-seok massaged his neck and shoulders while casting his gaze back toward the Restaurant.
“It could be a divine being or a malevolent spirit of comparable power, is what I suspect.”
The hatred of a divine being is something humans cannot escape.
A malevolent spirit is the same.
For example, there exists a creature called a Dueokshini.
It is an evil thing that crushes human heads and kills them, and a human who incurs the grudge of a Dueokshini cannot escape death by any means.
Neither a ritual, nor an apology, nor remorse, nor repentance—nothing would suffice.
“If he knows I exist and is now hiding to wait for an opportunity, it won’t be easy.”
Kang Hyung-seok shifted his gaze to the insects swarming around the restaurant sign.
The light-drawn bugs writhed about noisily.
Then a large moth collided with a sharp thud and fell to the ground, its wings and legs twitching as it lay on its back—a sight that unsettled me.
“In any case, I think we’ll need to visit his home to understand the full picture.”
“…Will you be alright?”
“Think only of your son for now.”
As Kim Young-chan’s thoughts seemed tangled, so too did mine become clouded.
What could possibly be the problem?
There were people who looked grave, yet the crucial figure at the center of it all remained invisible.
“Let’s go inside for now.”
“Yes.”
Kang Hyung-seok led the way into the restaurant.
And I witnessed something unexpected.
“Ah, how cute. Tsk tsk.”
“It’s fine now.”
Lee Jin-pyung and Kim Young-jun were conversing pleasantly, each absorbed in their phones.
Thud.
Sitting beside them, Kang Hyung-seok regarded Lee Jin-pyung with a look of surprise, his lips curving into a professional smile.
“What were you two discussing?”
“Oh, Manager Kang.”
Lee Jin-pyung seemed somewhat embarrassed and tried to hide his phone, but Kim Young-jun spoke up while picking up a piece of beef.
“A dog.”
“A dog?”
“Yes. You’re his successor—shouldn’t you know? He was showing me dog photos.”
Lee Jin-pyung awkwardly extended his phone for Kang Hyung-seok to see.
On the screen was a younger Lee Jin-pyung cradling a white Spitz in his arms.
-Woof woof woof woof!
That Spitz was now a Victim Spirit, lingering beneath Lee Jin-pyung’s legs.
“You must have cherished him dearly.”
“Yes, well.”
Lee Jin-pyung smiled, but his eyes held a melancholy gleam.
“I do wish to see him again.”
-Woof woof woof woof woof!
The Spitz Victim Spirit barked unusually loud, as if demanding to be noticed—visible only to Kang Hyung-seok.
“You will meet him again someday.”
“Thank you.”
He truly had loved that dog.
Kang Hyung-seok offered a bitter smile and turned his gaze toward Kim Young-jun.
“How did we end up talking about dogs?”
“I raised one back in the day, you know?”
“Ah.”
“Look, look at this one. This is the one.”
Kim Young-jun pulled up a photo of a dog on his phone and showed it to me.
The photo felt quite different from Lee Jin-pyung’s picture.
A young Kim Young-jun laughing mischievously, and in his arms, a dog of indeterminate breed struggling to break free.
“Right, I can’t even remember its name anymore. Anyway, we must have had something in common because we understood each other.”
“That’s possible.”
“Have you never raised a dog?”
At the sudden question, Kang Hyung-seok’s face twisted into a bitter smile.
“I was afraid of dogs when I was young.”
“Really? You don’t seem like that at all.”
“That’s what I mean.”
I couldn’t bring myself to like dogs.
Animals possess purer spirits than humans, so they often sense the presence of Victim Spirits.
Those common stories—”Our dog barks at the air so frightfully,” “During walks, it keeps its tail tucked and darts ahead like it’s running away”—they exist for a reason.
“Is there a reason you were afraid of dogs?”
Lee Jin-pyung also seemed curious, his attention turning toward Kang Hyung-seok.
Then Kang Hyung-seok reached for his cup with a bitter smile.
“Well.”
I simply hated them.
They kept revealing things I didn’t want to see.
My spiritual sight had opened, and I suffered throughout my entire childhood because of it.
I didn’t want to look, yet dogs stubbornly barked to reveal the locations of Victim Spirits.
I despised it.
“Dad.”
Kim Young-jun set down his chopsticks, looked at Kim Young-chan, and adjusted his carry-on.
“Looks like you’re done. Shall we wrap up?”
“Ah, yes, let’s do that.”
It was at that moment.
As Kim Young-chan pulled out his wallet from his pocket, Lee Jin-pyung gathered his belongings, and Kim Young-jun stood up with his carry-on, my gaze lunged toward the door.
“What’s wrong?”
At Kim Young-jun’s question, sensing something amiss, I couldn’t answer.
I saw it.
Kim Young-chan’s fear, and something targeting Kim Young-jun.
‘A dog….’
A massive dog, its body melted like something pulled from sulfuric acid, reeking of a sickening stench, stood at the restaurant entrance, its eyes bleached white and fixed upon Kim Young-jun.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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